BBC America is certainly doing US-based Doctor Who fans proud. The Tour brain wizards were recollecting when, day and date airings of nu-Who notwithstanding, they last watched Doctor Who in prime-time and could only alight upon watching The Five Doctors on our local PBS station on November 23rd, 1983 (yep. US fans got the 20th Anniversary special two days before the home counties got it, but that’s another story).
These monthly airings of classic stories wrapped by the docu-special info-dumps we become accustomed to are an entirely unexpected anniversary year bonus, and the Hartnell selection of The Aztecs, at least from THT Worldwide, is a particularly apt choice (and quite ably introduced by Steven Moffat), a literate historical from the pen of John Lucarotti when this type of story was an integral of Doctor Who’s ethos. William Hartnell is in great form for the story, so as a showcase illuminating his Doctor specifically and early Doctor Who in general, The Aztecs is well chosen.
This leads us to speculate, not knowing whether it has already been disclosed elsewhere, what the classic story choices for the remainder of the classic era Doctors will be. And since no one asked, here are our preferences (constraining ourselves to 4-part stories like The Aztecs) going forward…
Troughton: The Tomb of the Cybermen
Pertwee: Spearhead From Space
Tom Baker: Pyramids of Mars
Davison: Earthshock
Colin Baker: Vengeance on Varos
McCoy: Remembrance of the Daleks
We’ll see how close be come to nailing these predictions in the coming months.
